Batman's obsession over breaking bane's back

[theoneandonly]

Tom Kings Batman apparently has a idee fixe in his mind about breaking banes back. We get it that Bane once broke Bruce's back and left him paraplegic and granted it was his most traumatic moment at that period which must haunt him in some dark corner of his mind but he didn't feel the need before to bring it up in every conversation he had with Bane or threaten to permanently paralyze him. why is Tom King feeding this particular trope that Batman is a manic depressive traumatized to the point that it's a wonder he can function at all?

[Vakanai]

Rather than have him talk about it, I would be okay if Batman just suddenly actually broke Bane's back.

[jetengine]

Rather than have him talk about it, I would be okay if Batman just suddenly actually broke Bane's back.

I mean Catwoman did...somehow.

[MarkRodriguez09]

Rather than have him talk about it, I would be okay if Batman just suddenly actually broke Bane's back.

I agree. Less talk, more action. Plus it's realistic to have something like that permanently stuck somewhere in Batman's mind. Unless they retcon it away there's really no reason for him to ever be 100 percent over that.

[Frontier]

King's Batman kind of has a one-track mind...

[Chubistian]

Batman uses the phrase as a way to humilliate Bane. That was the major victory from Bane and since then he hasn't achieved anything as big as that, so he gets really mad with that threat. Also, it's a mantra to go against a man that can cause him so much pain once again and that almost made Bruce stop being Batman forever

At the same time, Batman has never truly left that moment go and up to this day is one of his major defeats, and the physical pain it brought is unforgettable to him. There're quite a few precedents on how much Knightfall affected Bruce:

-In No Man's Land we see how Bane's invasion at wayne manor made bruce create many safehouses.
-The second of Batman's ghost was a cop on venom mixed with Dr Strange's fear gas and Scarecrow's gas, if I recall it right, and he resembled Bane a lot in his design.
-When Darkseid's minions invaded Bruce's mind and he was finding the truth about the intrusion, they used the moment when Bane broke the Bat to put him off the trail. The imperfect clone that was used as a decoy to simulate Bruce's death later would remember Bane mixed with Bataz armor and a Scarecrow hat breaking a straw when thinking about the "rewards" he got for all his sacrifice
-The Heretic too played a back breaker move that emulated Bane's, but I think that has more to do with a red herring to the readers at the moment.
-In the first arc of Dark Knight in the New 52 Batman admited that he feared Bane, though that story was pretty bad.

[Jackalope89]

King's Batman kind of has a one-track mind...

When he sees Bane, "I'm gonna break your back! Grrr!"
When he sees Selina, "Cat... LOVE ME!"
When he sees Dick, "Stop quipping, I'm brooding!"
When he sees Jason, "You stupid little ****! This is my **** city because I said it is!"

[BatmanJones]

King's Batman kind of has a one-track mind...

He does. He still thinks he can punch ("POW") his way out of anything. That's the point. He's going to learn he can't.

[adrikito]

... Revenge??

[Restingvoice]

Tom Kings Batman apparently has a idee fixe in his mind about breaking banes back. We get it that Bane once broke Bruce's back and left him paraplegic and granted it was his most traumatic moment at that period which must haunt him in some dark corner of his mind but he didn't feel the need before to bring it up in every conversation he had with Bane or threaten to permanently paralyze him. why is Tom King feeding this particular trope that Batman is a manic depressive traumatized to the point that it's a wonder he can function at all?

Oh, I just think he likes repetition. Bat Cat Bat Cat and all that.

[Talon1load]

Because King is unoriginal and can't come up with any actual dialogue? He just has to repeat the same couple of phrases for 71 issues and still gets praise. He probably figures there's no point in trying to improve because people fawn over his work as it is.

[STAGARMS]

because king is unoriginal and can't come up with any actual dialogue? He just has to repeat the same couple of phrases for 71 issues and still gets praise. He probably figures there's no point in trying to improve because people fawn over his work as it is.

is it just me or did issue 67 steal the ending of killing joke

[theoneandonly]

No, didn't miss it. 'Manic depression' or 'bipolar disorder' are very specific things though, attempting suicide and being fixated on fighting criminals are not in themselves sufficient or necessary conditions for such a diagnosis or indication of such a diagnosis, so I was wondering what your reasons for this were - I guess you have some idiosyncratic meaning for the term that you find informatively description but presume everyone else shares this idiosyncratic meaning, but alas, nope.

well whatever.either you are very unfamiliar with kings work and the mythos he has created for Batman or just don't want to acknowledge he does want to deal with mental illness using his work as a platform. is Bruce specifically bipolar and can anyone authoritatively state he is not? no that may not be so and he certainly comes across as one you can argue as he is suffering from paranoid rage, suffers grandiose delusions that Gotham cannot survive without him and from extreme mood swings where he is laughing and crying the next second along with clinical depression or mania in short the generic symptom of manic depression. so no it's not a "idiosyncratic" meaning I have come up with but does generally fits the description of Bruce's current mental health hence the use of that term. perhaps you could say he is just a victim of PSTD or depression according to your "idiosyncratic" interpretation but unless you are trying to say you are a qualified psychiatrist or something you can't definitely say he isn't a bipolar as depicted in kings work or maybe you are ignorant of the general symptoms of manic depression so don't see anything of that sort going on in current batman. anyway that's not the purpose of the thread as it is specifically for addressing the issue of Batman's obsession over breaking Bane's back so if you are not going to pertain to the point of discussion of the thread you are free to start another thread discussing why you think Bruce isn't suffering from manic depression but this is not the purpose of this thread.

[theoneandonly]

Suicidality is not manic depression/bipolar. And Batman isn't being portrayed as manic depressive/bipolar at all in King's run. I think maybe some misunderstand what bipolar is.

well it's not a specific indicator but you seem to be unaware of the fact that bipolar patients are at a great risk for suicide. as such the the description isn't a unlikely description of Bruce's current mentality what with all the manipulations of bane somewhat though I certainly don't want to be discussing the various mental issues Tom Kings Batman may suffer from as that isn't the purpose of this thread. It's more aligned to discuss why king is having Bruce obsessed with breaking banes back rather than any other general/specific hangups he is having.